Chapter 15: Unanticipated Arrival
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Brody swallowed and tried to grin. "Sure kid, sure." He said it in a small flat voice that was a much like the voice he had used to me as an electric scooter is like a ten-ton truck. Carmen said: "You shot Arthur Geiger. I saw you. I want my pictures." Brody turned green. "Hey, wait a minute, Carmen," I called. Blonde Agnes came to life with a rush. She ducked her head and sank her teeth in my right hand. I made more noises and shook her off. "Listen, kid," Brody said, "Listen a minute -" The blonde spat at me and threw herself on my leg and tried to bite me. I cracked her on the head with the gun, not very hard, and tried to stand up. She rolled down my legs and wrapped her arms around them. I fell back on the davenport. The blonde was strong with the madness of love or fear, or a mixture of both, or maybe she was just strong. Brody grabbed for the antique revolver that was so close to his face. He missed. The gun made a sharp rapping noise that was not very loud. The bullet broke glass in a folded-back french window. Brody groaned horribly and fell down on the floor and jerked Carmen's feet from under her. She landed in a heap and the little revolver went skidding off into a corner. Brody jumped up on his knees and reached for his pocket. I hit Agnes on the head with less delicacy than before, kicked her off my feet, and stood up. Brody flicked his eyes at me. I showed him the automatic. He stopped trying to get his hand into his pocket. "Christ!" he wined. "Don't let her kill me!" I began to laugh. I laughed like an idiot, without control. Blonde Agnes was sitting up on the floor with her hands flat on the carpet and her mouth wide open and a wick of metallic blonde hair down over her right eye. Carmen was crawling on her hands and knees, still hissing. The metal of her little revolver glistened against the baseboard over in the corner. She crawled towards it relentlessly. I waved my share of the guns at Brody and said: "Stay put. You're all right." I stepped past the crawling girl and picked the gun up. She looked at me and began to giggle. I put her gun in my pocket and patted her on the back. "Get up, angel. You look like a Pekinese."
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Part 1